Valentina Elena Lazzarotti

Valentina Elena Lazzarotti is a Professor at Carlo Cattaneo University (LIUC) in Italy, specializing in Industrial Engineering and Information Engineering. Her research focuses on Open Innovation, Circular Economy, and Sustainable Business Models, with significant contributions in bioeconomy, manufacturing, and family business contexts. She actively publishes in high-impact journals and presents at international conferences including ISPIM.

Her research interests center on the intersection of Open Innovation and Circular Economy, particularly examining how companies leverage external knowledge to overcome technical barriers in circular product development. She investigates absorptive capacity dynamics enhanced by digital technologies, managerial practices for carbon neutrality in circular business models, and sustainability decision-making during global crises like the Russian-Ukraine war. Her work frequently compares European industrialized regions with South American developing contexts.

Recent publications reveal a strong trend toward integrating Open Innovation frameworks with circular business model implementation, emphasizing context-specific approaches for carbon neutrality and crisis resilience. Key themes include the dual preventive/corrective roles of managerial practices in decarbonization, the mediating effects of inbound open innovation on technical challenges, and the repositioning of social dimensions in sustainability during geopolitical disruptions. Her research consistently bridges theoretical frameworks with empirical case studies across diverse industrial sectors.